If you are a business owner, I am sure you have thought about your digital marketing strategy at one point in your career. How are you ranking in the search engines, what about doing some social media posts? What types of blog posts should I write for my target audience? All strategies for online marketing have standards and guidelines that make certain websites effective and others… not so much. At Cowlick Studios we try to stay within the guidelines, unless there is an obvious reason why it might be better to go outside the norm. Is your digital marketing working for you or do you feel you are lost, wasting time?

Here are a few questions to ask to help you find an answer and maybe work to improve your digital strategy.

1. Does your website have a clear direction on what to do when a user arrives on your website?

Look at each page of your website and all landing pages you have for your Brand, and decide if it would be clear to a prospect or your even your existing customer base on what his or her next steps should be. You don’t want to loose any potential customers, so you should be directing them every step of the way.

Clear call to actions, like “Start Here” or colourful buttons for “Login Areas” for your loyal customers all help with the UX of your website, and helps to get more conversions. Even in your digital marketing campaigns, you would want to “hand-hold” your potential leads through the customer journey. This not only ultimately helps sales, but also the customer experience on the whole.

2. Is your website focused on your target market?

Have a complete digital marketing plan, includes working out your “Ideal Customer” and ensuring you have relevant content for your readers. Focus on your targets, implement strategic communication programs or touch points, and measure the results to know where you should continue your efforts.

A great way to do this is through a form of email marketing, where you are constantly reaching out to your current customers to ask them, what their pain points are or what you can do to improve your products or services. Customer feedback loops can be powerful for growing your Brand.

3. Are you making use of the right social media platforms?

Social Media is here to stay and social networks have serious user numbers attached to them. The question is, are you targeting the right ones for your potential customers? Getting your return on investment depends on how well you thought out your social media campaign.

Your service offerings sent to the right people on the correct platform will result in better time spent for your marketing efforts. It seems like common sense, but we often see the opposite. The wrong message, to the wrong user base, on the incorrect platform.

Social media marketing can get some word of mouth happening and drive more happy customers for those businesses that are using the right digital channels. Remember its about building trust, and being top of mind, more than it is about selling.

4. Your digital marketing offers are not relevant.

Website visitors and your prospective clients need content that is relevant to them. Remember culture is strategy. Give them something for FREE that they can implement and can see some success with. As digital marketers we can get lost in too many ideas all at once. Email Campaigns, Google Ads, Search Engine Optimization, Video Marketing, Social Channels, Influencer Marketing, Content Marketing…

Woah, slow down their Cowboy!

If a Business can’t implement a simple, straightforward plan or see the end goal in site, they will get overwhelmed with the digital marketing strategy and lose faith. We would want a steady, smooth implementation process to ensure success. Always tackle one traffic or marketing channel at a time and again, start with your target audience in mind for each!

Getting the right traffic to your website and landing pages is crucial, if people are going to download your content it has to resonate with them. These people downloading your content may pass this content on to others who will ultimately buy or buy themselves if they see a true value in the offer. Anyway you can give them a personalized experience it will help turn more sales.

Don’t forget about the timing! Consumers want to see different information at different parts of the decision process, the content you choose to present at a particular time may often decide if you make their shortlists. Get creative with your marketing ideas!

5. You are not offering Incentives.

Some website users are very motivated by incentives and will purchase because of the incentives they receive. The trick to using incentives well is to only use them for those that are motivated by them, instead of wasting marketing dollars on just marketing tactics. Ensure your digital marketing efforts are a success by speaking directly to your custom audiences.

Maybe you have 3-4 segments that you need to speak to and you create a content strategy for each, getting a content calendar is a first good step. Always remember, no matter which digital marketing channel you use, stay consistent with your efforts and follow a plan of attack.